I. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to cable splice enclosures, and in particular to an enclosure for encapsulating and sealing a splice between two or more underground cables.
II. Background of the Invention
When splices are made between underground cables, or other cables exposed to the elements, it becomes necessary to encapsulate and seal the splice so that the ends of the spliced cables are not exposed. It has become customary to encapsulate the splice with a plastic enclosure, then fill the enclosure with a plastic compound to fully insulate the splice. The splice is thus electrically insulated, strengthened, and protected from the eroding effect of the elements.
A wide variety of enclosures have been designed to fit around the splice and receive the plastic compound, and these enclosures are acceptable in that the splice is insulated. However, the capsules currently available are often quite difficult for the ordinary telephone lineman to use, and usually require an inordinate amount of time and effort to perform a single splice. Since the splice enclosures are difficult to form, they are often formed incorrectly and do not properly insulate the splice.
The most common problem with available cable splice enclosures is that the enclosure cannot be immediately sealed after it has been filled with a liquid plastic compound. Rather, the lineman must wait for the plastic compound to set before placing the splice underground. Often, as exhibited by U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,042, the enclosure must be held upright while the plastic compound sets otherwise the compound will run out of the enclosure. These difficulties basically require that the lineman wait for the plastic compound in one splice to at least partially set before burying the encapsulated splice underground.
While a wide variety of enclosures have been developed to avoid deficiencies of earlier devices, these devices introduce new features which still render them difficult to use. For example, the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,042 provides only a single means at each end for the entrance of a cable, thus making Y splices wherein two cables exit at the same end of the enclosure quite difficult. Splice enclosures such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,657 require a special container for injecting the plastic compound into the enclosure. Most prior art devices disclose no method for spacing the splice away from the walls of the enclosure, which is necessary to insure that the plastic compound completely insulates the splice. Due to difficulties such as these, prior art devices do not provide the lineman with a convenient means for sealing underground cable splices.